Lake supports no leaks

By MARKUS ERMISCH Staff reporterJan 28 2007 http://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/

Coquitlam council wants legislation changed to address confidentiality breaches. Terry Lake would support changes to Community Charter to establish “proper penalties” for council members who deliberately breach confidentiality. “From a philosophical view, I could support that,” the mayor said. “There should be penalties. There are penalties if you don’t report your campaign expenses properly.” Coquitlam city council voted earlier this month to urge the provincial government to change the legislation governing municipalities “to ask that proper penalties be established in the Community Charter for a deliberate breach of confidentiality” by a member of council.

The issue arose following leaks to the press of confidential information. Penalties suggested in the Coquitlam motion include disqualifying from holding office council members who have deliberately breached confidentiality, excluding such council members from in-camera meetings and withholding confidential documents and records from them. Lake said he can’t recall a deliberate leak to the media from a member of council during his time in office, but noted that, on occasion, he wonders how the media obtain information discussed behind closed doors.
Leaks, he said, are not always necessarily deliberate, but can also happen by an “inadvertent slip of the tongue.”

For this reason, city CAO Randy Diehl said punishing breaches of confidentiality could be problematic. “Confidentiality should be treated with the highest level of concern on the part of all members of council,” he said, but pointed out it is “exceedingly difficult” to prove a breach of confidentiality. Since working at city hall, Diehl said he is not aware of a deliberate breach of confidentiality by a member of council. If a sitting or former member of council deliberately breaches confidentiality, Diehl said, and harms the City of Kamloops, “then any losses are recoverable from the council member.” Council would have to decide on disciplinary action or how to recover costs.

City staff privy to confidential information are subject to similar rules, Diehl said. In serious cases, a staff member breaching confidentiality could be fired. “In either case, the merits of the situation would dictate the response,” Diehl said. “However, a breach of confidentiality, for whatever reason, is improper and needs to be addressed quickly and with a high level of accountability.” Victoria is reviewing Coquitlam’s application to alter the Community Charter, but any change to the legislation would have to be considered by the Union of British Columbia Municipalities, according to a Ministry of Community Services spokesman.